The Primrose 



Iris, or with the leaves and stem in a 

 sprig of spotted Laurel (Aucuba), where 

 the lines are amongst the keenest and 

 most delicately forcible that I know ; 

 or with the bold decided outlines of the 

 Crown Imperial, whose tall stem rises 

 like a mast through the lower leaves, is 

 thence for a short space bare, till it is 

 topped by the crowning sheaf of leaf 

 swords, out of which droop so gracefully 

 the large yellow wax-like bells. Here 

 every line seems to pierce like an arrow, 

 the composition is so clear and masterly. 

 But we have nothing at all of this kind 

 in the Primrose ; it is meant to impress 

 us as altogether soft and yielding. And 

 yet amidst all this softness the decision 

 is only veiled. Let but those leaves be 

 a little too flat, or wide, or smooth, as 

 they often are in over-nourished speci- 

 mens, and we shall detect the loss in a 

 moment. Look, too, at the decision in 

 the lines of their arching, as they gush 

 forth like a green fountain from the 

 earth, starting at first more erect from 

 the centre of the plant, and increasing 

 the curve as they lengthen in going out- 

 wards, till gradually bent, pushed lower 

 and lower by those which climb above 

 them, they finally, perhaps, touch the 

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